#bc if there is a problem in lore they can literally just communicate and retcon it

[qnpc04]

all the people whining and crying about bad ‘messing up the canon’ need to close their eyes and take a little breather … come on now follow me .. breathe in ……………….. breathe out

[tiredarts-main]

d2 heresy spoilers below the cut

LONG random brain-spewing bc the ‘tism returns and this post got away from me

(also sorry in advance for the flower-speak around the Books of Sorrow talk, the Mazerunner (OC) brainworms took a liking to that topic and burrowed into my language-choices)

—READMORE BYPASSED—

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how to feel abt the scene of Eris removing her mask…

brain immediately drew a connection to the lore on this season’s “campaign” armor helmet- Sloane thinking abt the line between Eris and Hive being blurred, while the line of herself and Taken has to remain solid as to keep herself alive.

I kinda see Eris removing her mask as accepting her scars- and knowing she is safe in her own definition.

also, the maniacal laughter bit is 100% understandable. She just got a major theory proven. If I were in her shoes about something like that for the Complex, I’d be the exact same way. Go off, queen, you earned it.

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I know it’s been brought up by others- Books of Sorrow, Verses 3:6, 3:8, 3:9

But the second half of it is Sororicide, Verse 8:6: [SHE WILL TAKE UP YOUR WEAPON, WHICH IS ALL THAT YOU ARE, AND SHE WILL CONJURE YOU BACK WITH HER UNDERSTANDING.]

Xivu is banking on us learning to Take. She wants Oryx back, because He’s the proof She needs to keep existing. With Him gone, She’s afraid that She’ll lose her right to exist too. Compensation for the Timid Truth.

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There’s concrete evidence in the seasonal artifact that Oryx communed with the Winnower, not the Witness. It calls out Verse 4:2 “Majestic, Majestic” of the Books of Sorrow, and defines the speaking entity as the Winnower. By name.

I can’t remember if the speaking entity was ever called “Winnower” in anything other than Unveiling, but now we can draw direct lines between the two books.

This is a problem, for hopefully-evident reasons.

It’ll likely be explained as the season progresses, but the whole “The Witness commanded Rhulk to subjugate the Worms and trick the Krill” thing in Witch Queen called into question what the Winnower’s deal was (1). Oryx knows it only as “The Deep.” I dunno if even HE knew that the Syzygy was a lie.

We don’t know ANYTHING about the Winnower other than what the Books of Sorrow (2) and Unveiling (4) tell us.

It’s at this point that I must admit my Shattered Suns knowledge is. not the best. Sorry, Rhulk lovers, I never managed to do the raid and haven’t gotten around to reading its entries on Ishtar yet, whoopsies.

We know the Books of Sorrow to be a biased, malevolently-edited account. It has vital information, but we can’t rely on it in good faith. Books of Sorrow, Verse 4:11 “Dreadnaught”- “I am Savathûn, insidious […] I graffiti this notice for you […] These Books are full of lies!” (3)

This statement from the Witch-sister provides a paradox. To attempt to understand this paradox feeds the exercise of Auryx’s throne. To fail to understand this paradox feeds Imbaru. Leave it as it is- a notice- and seek no further depths.

Unveiling is canonically in-universe propaganda, given to us by The Witness (or the Winnower? WQ “retcon” (is it a retcon?) makes that complicated). At the time of its release, we believed the Winnower to be its distributor. Fuck if I know how that situation is going nowadays- I checked out of the debate club during SotRisen and promptly forgot about it. Literally only just remembered it at the start of writing this segment of the post. Fuckin’ell, BL+WQ was weird with that lore in retrospect.

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The voices that you can uncommonly hear in the Dreadnaught aren’t the Osmium siblings as we know them.

I’ve only heard one so far- and it was Xi Ro, not Xivu Arath. I know there’s at least one of Aurash, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was one of Sathona too. Hell, it’d be funny as fuck (and perfectly on-brand) if Sathona’s was buried in the files and we could only find it via datamines. Bonus points if it’s just a red herring (1).

For a similar conundrum, see Truth to Power.

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The line of “Xivu’s horde has entered Sol through the Dreadnaught” didn’t really make sense to me? Like, Her brood has been here for a while. We saw them in Hunt, Lost, Seraph, Deep, Witch- they’ve been present!

And the choice of Hidden Swarm for their models also makes me wonder. I thought post-Shadowkeep, the Hidden Swarm swore to Savathûn? It’s a major part of Kelgorath’s origins that he scraped the red from his chitin when renouncing the Witch-sister and swearing loyalty to Xivu

so unless I missed something where their allegiance changed again (as they were previously descendants of Crota)…

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Torobatl mentioned! Valus Forge being a good friend and advisor to Caital! Thinking of the Ulurant people not just by the militaristic nature Humanity often sees them by, but as survivors.

Tbh I’m not an Uluran lore expert (most of my fascination lies in the Eliksni, Hive, and Vex), but it’s an interesting angle to see, and it continues a thread that could be explored in Frontiers- leaving the Sol system and reclaiming Torobatl from a now-mortal Xivu.

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Keit’ehr. How do I even start with this motherfucker.

First off, she’s actually kinda intimidating. She shows up out of nowhere with no signs to her arrival other than weird vibes, then immediately overwhelms two ancient Guardians with centuries of combat experience under their belts- killing one and almost managing to do the same to the other.

Not to mention, she seems… smarter than other Dread we’ve encountered. More personality. She LAUGHED when Eris shot her face. I know the Dread have their own language, but the Disciples are clearly more sapient than the foot soldiers. Something’s weird with Keit’ehr, because she’s not only acting on her own, but she’s leading other Dread and Taken as well.

Also, she’s Taken, which normally ISN’T A THING THAT HAPPENS TO PEOPLE ANYMORE since Savathûn hasn’t done it since Arrivals, and Xivu straight-up can’t (as far as I’m aware). Drifter actually calls this out in the opening EDZ mission- you can kill Taken, but they’ll just reform in the Sea of Screams. Making new ones requires knowledge held on Tablets of Ruin (or known by The Deep and The Worms).

Adding on to this point, Keit’ehr is Taken and sapient. There’s a very short list of characters who’re like that- Quria, Riven, Nokris, Sloane (and maybe a few from TTK that I wasn’t in the fandom yet to experience). This behavior- alongside the Dire mutations in the Taken- is an anomaly that must be monitored.

Also-also, where has Keit’ehr been this whole time (during Echoes and Revenant)? Was she chasing the Echo through the stars, waiting for it to land? She’s way ahead of all of us, but not to the degree that she’s already won. WHERE DID SHE COME FROM?????

This fucker is fascinating to me, and I hope she stays this way (mysterious) until at least mid-Act 2. I’m fed up with the big-bad being someone who we already know in-ways and out. We didn’t see this level of oomph with Fikrul (subjective), and Maya’s equivalent “big reveal moment” was iffy at best (subjective) because basically everyone (biased) knew from Day One (exaggeration) that it was her (exaggeration).

I want a mystery to chase. Keit’ehr provides that mystery, and I’m all for it.

——

I desperately need to learn Resonant/Dread.

BUNGIE PLZ. GIVE US A HINT.

IT’S BEEN OVER A YEAR. NOBODY’S FOUND THE TRANSLATION-STONE YET.

THROW US A BONE FOR FUCK’S SAKE

(for reasons, this exasperation is heavily played up for the bit)

(I have similar desires for Hive, Eliksni, and Uluran translation guides. I call out Resonant specifically here because I already know ATT!Eliksni, and it’s topical for this season)